I keep thinking of those home shows where someone discovers a link to the past history of the house through some marker left by a previous owner -- and they value it for that very reason. Maybe a hundred years from now someone will look at your house the same way. Maybe you could plant something to grow up and cover the name, then find a place on the property to install some permanent object with YOUR family name on it (leaving a trail of historical breadcrumbs for future interested parties). :-)

I think Juliaw's solution is perfect. Why deface the former owner's name if you can hide it? Some sort of ivy or tall flowers would solve the problem. Do you have pics of the wall?

Sorry, no pictures of the wall, yet. I'll be sure to get a few when I visit my parents later this month. It was my Dad's request to have the stone removed. I really like your way of thinking tough and serves a great deal of consideration for others. I like that! I'm going to talk with Dad and see if he'll agree. He LOVES history and the farm house sits on a historic civil war battle field, so he may just rethink this after all. Perhaps a rose that likes lots of room to ramble would do. Thank you both for responding.

How about some kind of removable cover for the name? That way you could preserve the history if it ever became interesting but not have to think everyone thought the "Jones" family still owned your wonderful new farm!
One idea might be to set a couple of strategic screws into the mortar between the rocks and hang something your family loves over the "name rock". It could be a new name or some artistic sign or object. Another idea would be to cement a small post in the ground in front of the rock and support something on that to obscure the old name.
Have fun.
Laura

spray the name with release agent, then mould a fake hypertufa rock over the surface and carve your name into that :)

Hey, I think Dad will like your idea of having his name hanging over the other one, Laura!

Very cool ideas, everyone! I knew you all would have great answers ...

Thanks!